It's A Hard Knock Life
by puddingtalk
Summary: Flynn, Peter Pan, and Aladdin are best friends in the Disney's Orphanage for Boys.But when Flynn finally decides to get serious with his new gf, and Peter Pan has a possibility of being adopted, they leave Aladdin in the dust.
1. Chapter 1

"You know what? This sucks. This sucks so much, I can't think of anything to make it suck more,"

Aladdin banged his head on the front of the bunk bed.

"It could rain," Peter Pan said from the top bunk.

"We're inside, you dumbass," Flynn flipped through a Playboy magazine, which most likely stolen from the headmistress's son, "And Aladdin, stop acting like this is the first time you screwed up getting foster parents,"

As a matter of fact, it was the fifth.

"Yeah but it still sucks! No one wants 'the terrorist'." He buried his head in his pillow out of shame from his nickname.

"Hey, hey, hey. That happy-go-lucky couple wasn't for you anyways, and that's just a stupid nickname. And it's not like you act like one. If anyone should be called 'the terrorist' is PP over here," Flynn pointed upward with his head to Peter Pan's bunk.

"Hey!"

"Just saying,"

"You know, I know you guys are trying your hardest at making me feel better, but it's not working," Aladdin said sarcastically. At this rate, he wouldn't get adopted until he was twenty.

"We weren't trying," Peter Pan said smugly.

"Exactly," Flynn nodded his head, "WHOA! PP, LOOK AT HIS ONE!"

Peter Pan flew off the bunk bed excitedly and landed next to Flynn, who was pointing at one of the magazine pictures.

"Brandon's gonna kick your asses. And so is the headmistress," Aladdin said, knowing his words were useless.

"Brandon cannot fight for toaster strudel," Flynn said, not looking up the magazine.

Aladdin didn't reply. He wasn't in the mood for debating with Flynn. But he was in the mood for sulking.

** "**Being an orphan sucks," Aladdin said, shoving the blankets over his head.

"It's the hard knock life, bro," Flynn said sympathetically.

It's the hard knock life.

Aladdin has the same dream every night. It involves him finding the perfect foster parents.

But their faces are just blurred mess. It also involves him finding the perfect girl. But she's completely blurred too. It involves him shooting Brandon and the headmistress.

That part isn't blurred.

He's always wondered what it meant; Flynn said it meant he would hopefully shoot Brandon and the headmistress one day. But Aladdin was sure that it meant something more.

Maybe it meant that he wasn't sure what he wanted.

But that's stupid. Aladdin wanted a girlfriend, decent parents, and his monkey back (the headmistress gave Abu to an animal testing program; for he knew Abu could be green and sprouting another limb).

Or was it?


	2. Chapter 2

To avoid getting cursed at by the headmistress, the boys set off on a walk as early as they could. There plan was to stay out until curfew, but they always find that they have nothing to do and go back early. However, Aladdin didn't want to go back at all.

The air outside the orphanage was still bitterly cold, even though it was in the middle of spring. Flynn hugged his thick blue jacket, which was yet another thing he took from Brandon.

Peter Pan however, didn't seem to be troubled by the cold, considering he only wore the usual green Salvation Army t-shirt and jeans. Either that, or he didn't have any winter clothes.

_God_, Aladdin thought, something_ needs to change. Poor Peter wears the same thing every day. Flynn is on the verge of being an actual criminal, and I can't even get foster parents. _He sighed, his breath coming out in a fog.

"Hey. If you guys could have one wish, what would it be?" Peter Pan said suddenly, staring at a small house, decorated to perfection, picked fence and all.

"I bet normal teenage thoughts don't exist in your mind," Flynn said, rolling his eyes.

"Seriously! One wish, man. No limits," Peter paused, "I would wish I could fly. Then I could leave this place forever, and I would never come back. Never," he said, shaking his head.

Aladdin thought about it. It would have to be a wish that would change everything, like if one of them got adopted or if the headmistress got a life long illness.

"Well you all know what I wish for," Flynn breathed, a cloud of mist coming out of his mouth. His hatred for the cold clearly showed at that moment.

"To be on an island surrounded by piles of cash. Great wish," Aladdin breathed into his numb brown hands. He suddenly thought if color was the reason why the foster parents said no. The Lost Boys (a group of boys that rubbed off of Peter Pan's bad influence) always joked that it was, but now he realized that racism could have been a possibility.

"Yeah I know," Flynn said. They walked on for a while in the cold without speaking. They didn't really need to, and the cold always dampened their usual mood. And as simple as earlier conversation was, they thought good and hard about that question.

Flynn suddenly stopped, his eyes alert. Aladdin slowed his pace, staring at Flynn's swift change in mood. Peter Pan, day dreaming, bumped into the back of him.

"Hey, what's the problem-" Peter Pan began

"We're on the goddamn wrong street!" Flynn smacked his forehead.

Aladdin looked around, and suddenly realized that he was right. The orphanage's street was littered with trash and was not too far from their crappy public school, Animation High. But this street was exactly the opposite. It seemed like the towering mansions could rival the White House, and the whole atmosphere appeared brighter than the orphanage. The boys stood speechless, staring in jealousy of the thought that whoever lived in those houses probably had a perfect life.

"I have an urge to egg these houses," Peter said, breaking the silence.

"Same," Aladdin said, not taking his eyes off of a mansion's exterior that emulated the Taj Mahal.

"Well _I _have an urge to crash a private school," Flynn said, pointing to a bus pulling up on the other side of the street, "you guys in?" he said grinning.

And before Aladdin could tell Flynn to shut up, it happened.

It was like God sent down a sign.

It was as if the earth stopped spinning

It was like some mysterious force made the three boys have boners at the exact same time.

There, stepping into the bus were the hottest girls that they have ever seen. Jaw dropped, Flynn turned to Aladdin.

"Aladdin, whatever logic you present is now completely invalid,"

And with that, Peter Pan and Flynn ran to bus. 


	3. Chapter 3

For about five seconds, Aladdin stood, not knowing what to do. His better half told him to walk away and get back to the orphanage where his two assy friends wouldn't drag him into trouble. But Aladdin was a bigger man than that.

He would go.

He snapped out of his trance, shaking his head abruptly. He caught sight of the bus, which stopped for a millisecond to let Flynn and Aladdin on. The bus started again, and began slowly to move away.

"Crap," muttered Aladdin. He broke into a run.

Aladdin could hear his heart accelerate as he sprinted towards the moving bus.

"Hey!" he somehow managed to shout, "HEY!"

The bus driver didn't flinch.

The frustration was overwhelming. Aladdin dug in his pocket to find something to grab the driver's attention. He flung a handful of coins at the bus's door.

The coins bounced of the door and onto the asphalt. The bus's engine roared as it sped off, leaving a cloud of exhaust in Aladdin's face. He coughed, and slowed to a stop. He felt a horrible bitterness engulf him as he watched the bus doing forty miles per hour in a neighborhood.

Fine. If his friends wanted to be badasses and screw themselves over, he would let them. He wouldn't be there to save them this time.

And he could care less.


	4. Chapter 4

"Holy shit Peter. Holy shit," Flynn was just about peeing himself as he watched Aladdin get left behind through the bus's back window, "This was a bad idea," he slouched in the bus's newly cleaned seats.

Peter sharply turned his head. All he had to do was point at the girls sitting two rows above them.

"No it wasn't," he said grinning.

"You're right, you're right," Flynn rubbed his temples, "but we need a plan. Crap, this was what Aladdin was good at…"

"Calm down. I've got this. Maybe you don't know, but I'm a masterful liar,"

"Shut up you cocky prick," Flynn groaned, "Okay, how about foreign exchange students? From some weird country like Ukaniaslovia."

"As Aladdin would say: 'There are many things wrong with that statement.' And where is Ukaniaslovia?"

"Africa. What's your plan, genius?" Flynn rolled his eyes.

Peter slowly showed his classic evil smile.

"Here's what we're going to do,"

Being a secretary at a preppy white kid school and being paid minimum wage wasn't Hades's idea of the perfect job. The only way he was able to entertain himself from the sheer boredom was to ask the kids that were brought to the office obnoxious questions.

"So how much weed was it?"

"Do you think your mother will ever love you after this incident?"

"Oh my! Is that alcohol I smell?"

He was careful not to push it too much though. Countless times kids have threatened to have him sued, and it was not exactly a small possibility of him being fired. But the principal had kept his job for a specific reason.

Hades was a master interrogator.

In fact, he did most of the principal's job; the principal merely gave the lectures and punishments. So when two boys not dressed in uniform entered the office, he didn't expect to have met his match.

One was a ginger, with a ratty green t-shirt. He was thin, but had an angular yet round face; almost like a child's. He kept his head held high, and looked Hades straight in the eye.

"Good afternoon,"

"Whatever kid. Sit down,"

The second boy had wavy unkempt black and a little bit of a bad 5 o'clock shadow. He stayed quiet as he sat down in front of Hade's desk.

"So I see you're out of uniform. And it looks like you've got your clothes from the Salvation Army. I'm guessing you two are from Animation High?"

The kid with the beard's mouth dropped; and it looked as if he was about to object, but the ginger silenced him.

"Your jacket looks over worn and you have this job. I'm guessing you're underpaid?"

Hades tried not show that the remark faltered him. Who did this kid think he was? He cleared his throat.

"Touché, kid. But I pulled up the files on Animation High, and I saw Wavy Locks on the Baloo Bear baseball team. So try and tell me you aren't from Animation High School,"

Hades completely made this up, of course, but judging by the boys' reactions, he had guessed correctly.

"Actually, we _are_ from Animation High," the red head said, "We've come to this school to write a compare and constant essay over the our spring break. My cousin told me that this school is really different from Animation High, different enough to fill eight pages. I asked my headmistress to call this school and ask if it was okay if my partner and I could spend a day here. I even have a letter,"

The red head handed the secretary a formal letter discussing the situation. Hades slipped over it, knowing it was legitimate due to the signature at the bottom of the page.

"Hmm… okay," Hades couldn't argue with formal letters. He took two passes from his desk and handed them to the boys, "don't loose them."

"Okay sir," the red head grinned, "we won't."

The boys stood up and quickly walked towards the door.

"Oh wait." Hades said.

"Yes?" Peter Pan turned his head.

"Who is your cousin anyway?"

Both of the boys' hearts' froze. Peter walked up to Hades's desk and leaned over, trying to look at names on the stack of exams. Peter looked at Hades with a straight face.

"Wendy Darling,"


	5. Chapter 5

The boys had to race down the hall before almost dying of a fit of laughter.

"Oh god, oh god…" Flynn couldn't continue. His words were overpowered by laughter.

Peter braced himself against a water fountain, trying to speak.

"I…told you…I'm a…master…" his laughter continued.

Flynn took a deep breath to temporarily hold back his giggles.

"You freaking scanned the headmistress's signature. Onto your 'formal' letter. I have a newfound respect for you, bro,"

"What? Why haven't you respected me earlier?"

"Shut up Peter," Flynn stood up, "besides, we would've been toast if it weren't for that girl who pointed us the way to the library-" Flynn was cut off.

Walking into a classroom on the other side of the hall was a girl with incredibly golden hair that seemed to flow like golden water behind her, reaching just above to her ankles. Though a little short and skinny, she was absolutely beautiful.

"Whoa, hippy alert," Peter said, staring at her hair.

Well, beautiful to Flynn.

Flynn put a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"I think it is time that we part, dumbass. At the end of the day, meet me at the library,"

With those words, Flynn followed the girl into the classroom.

* * *

><p>Before Flynn could see the inside of the classroom, he found that the classroom smelt like paint and clay. Flynn gingerly opened the door. The room was filled with busy students. There were papers spread across large white tables, were two or three kids were sitting. Paintings were hung everywhere, and drawing books were held in an old shelf.<p>

_Oh god no… _

Art was not one of Flynn's best subjects. He considered leaving the classroom to find another girl before he could make a fool out of himself, but before he could even turn around; he felt a hand grab the collar of his shirt.

"Why the hell aren't you in uniform?" a female voice demanded. Suddenly the classroom was quiet.

Flynn turned around, and saw a pretty woman around eighteen years old with long brown pulled back in a loose ponytail. She looked at him with one eyebrow up. Flynn smiled.

"Why the hell are you a teacher?" he asked smugly.

"You would rather me a stripper?" she retorted. The class laughed. After hearing Flynn's objections, she ripped the pass out of his hands. She studied it, and waved to her class to get back to whatever they were doing.

"Call me Mrs. Meg. Take a seat, and try to do something productive. I'd rather you not ask me for help, but that's my job. Mrs. Rapunzel here will help you," she pushed him towards her.

Flynn sat next to the girl with long hair. She looked at him and smiled. Flynn tried to keep his cool.

"Hi. I'm Rapunzel. What's your name?"

Flynn couldn't get his senses straight. Something about her huge pretty green eyes threw him off. He fought for words, and suddenly remembered the name on the 'forbidden file' that Peter threatened to 'accidently' print all over the orphanage unless Flynn did his chores for a year.

"Eugene Fitzherbert," he said too quickly.

"Oh! Fitzherbert! That must be European right?" she laughed at Flynn's blush, "I'm kidding. My last name is Wagner. I mean, the first name is German enough, but Wagner? Geez."

Flynn melted. This girl was too sweet. He smiled.

"Well," Rapunzel said, handing him a piece of paper, "what do you want to draw?"

The only thing Flynn could think of was her, her, her.

"Can I draw you?" Flynn asked, knowing very well that the only thing he could draw was a bird; not a real one or even a cartoony version, but those squiggles seen in most kindergartener's drawings.

"Um… okay."

She sat very still, looking him straight in the eye, giving a slight smile.

"Is this pose good?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah…" Flynn said nervously. _God, what is wrong with me?_

He picked up a pencil and began to draw.

Rapunzel began to assume that he was a very masterful artist, for he kept erasing over and over again. Finally, he grabbed a spare piece of paper and completely redid the drawing. After a few minutes, he turned away and shamefully handed Rapunzel the piece of paper. She curiously took it from him.

She didn't know whether to laugh or be offended. It was just a smiling stick figure with eyelashes and extremely long hair. She looked at Flynn with a mixture of confusion and laughter. He reddened.

"Well I hope I don't really look like this in real life," she grinned.

Flynn looked up and sheepishly smiled back.


	6. Chapter 6

Peter wasn't interested in chasing blond hippies, so he didn't mind when Flynn left him alone. In fact, he was kind of curious as to who his hypothetical cousin was. So, since concluding that he had absolutely nothing better to do, he decided to hop from class to class in hoping to find Wendy Darling.

Well, looking for Wendy was really on the back of his mind. His priority was to find cute girls, flirt, and if things went okay, make out. He had no cell phone to keep in contact with them, which he felt kind of guilty of. He probably wouldn't end up making out or flirting anyways. Though girls were attracted to Peter, he often ignored the signs and ended hurting them when he put them in the 'friend-zone.'

Peter sighed. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Though Peter didn't act like it, he was a little uncomfortable with girls and relationships. Especially after Tink…

His thoughts were halted at the sound of a bell ringing.

Students dressed in white and light blue uniforms poured into the hallway. Without realizing it, Peter had walked straight into the center of an area where many classrooms were. Now he had to act like he had somewhere to be without looking stupid.

Mentally choosing the people out of the crowd who looked like they were in what Peter called 'a dumbass class', he followed a girl with way too bright blond hair. _If I ended up in a class like calculus, I would be totally screwed. I bet Flynn or Aladdin wouldn't consider that. Oh man, I'm a genius-"_

"And who might you be _monsieur?" _questioned a short round man with balding brown hair and mustache that pointed vertical in opposite directions.

_How the _hell _does someone get their mustache like that? If I could do that, I would of stopped shaving two years ago!_

Sadly, the only thing Peter could pay attention to was the teacher's astonishing mustache, and not how clearly that the class was a French class, and that he didn't speak a word of the French language.

"Hey, Mr. Cogsworth asked you a question,"

Peter turned his attention to a very pretty brunette girl, with demanding brown eyes.

"Well," he said putting his hands on his hips and smiling mockingly, "I didn't really ask for your opinion,"

Peter expected a reaction like hers; dropped mouth, sputtering in shock. He turned to the teacher with the amazing mustache.

"My name's Peter Pan, and here's my pass," he handed Mr. Cogsworth his paper and walked over to an empty desk.

Mr. Cogsworth studied the pass. A smile grew on his pudgy face.

"They teach French in Animation High?"

Peter paled.

"Oh yeah… they teach French alright. One of our many recommended courses,"

As a matter of fact, French _was_ a language course in Animation High, and many students took it. But not for the reason of learning the language, but for the amazing teacher Mr. Lumiere, who had a dream of being a cook, and made amazing appetizers and desserts to share with his students during class.

Mr. Cogsworth smiled.

"Okay then, let's see how much you know,"

* * *

><p>Aladdin had nowhere else to go. So like always, he ended up walking back to orphanage. However, unlike most times, he had to painfully walk back through the rich neighborhood. Looking at each polished, trimmed and perfect mansion, he felt so envious, yet angry at the same time.<p>

Some of these people have cheated, fought and ignored their own family to get their way to the top. They weren't good people. Why did they deserve that life? Aladdin believed he was a good person; he was just in a bad position. Did being poor label him as bad person or a thief? He read the youngest orphans stories. He gave the Lost Boys his spare food, even after they call him 'the terrorist' and other names. All of his spare change ended up in the homeless people's pockets. But he wasn't praised, or even acknowledged like the wealthy were.

He looked away from the beautiful neighborhood. He knew better. Behind almost every mansion was a person who hid behind their throne of money, using their image to cover the pain and hurt that their castles lay upon. He was wrong to judge them.

He looked down at the pavement, hoping to get rid of his depressing thoughts, but not before his eye caught a flash of blue.

Aladdin lifted his head curiously. But he saw nothing but houses lining the pavements and 'groomed to perfection' yards.

He shook his head. He must be going crazy.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys! Sorry that took a little while (like, two days!) but my parents were working on both computers most of the time, so I didn't have time to make a new chapter. Sorry that Aladdin's part is a little depressing, but it's necessary. Review, review, review por favor! <strong>


	7. Chapter 7

"Courir."

"Run."

"Arrêter."

"Stop."

"Chien."

"Dog."

Mr. Cogsworth was firing French words at Peter faster than bullets to prove him worthy of his class. In the beginning Peter begged Mr. Cogsworth to go easy on him, because he lied that he had taken Spanish freshmen year then switched to French, and that it was a really tough transition. Mr. Cogsworth reluctantly agreed, but that still didn't help Peter from his predicament of only knowing the French words 'bon jour' and 'bon apatite'.

Then the girls came in.

As soon as Mr. Cogsworth finished the sentence 'let's see how much you know', he advanced in front of Peter's desk. Peter then looked desperately at two girls who sitting in front of him. Surprisingly, they nodded their heads quickly and gave Peter thumbs up, grinning their heads off.

So thanks to Peter's good looks (as he would like to assume), he had girls acting out each word Mr. Cogsworth fired at him.

_I love charades. _Peter thought.

"Sauter."

A blond girl with messy bangs barley contained with a black headband jumped up and down in her seat.

"Jump." Peter said.

"Divan."

Another pretty blond girl with wide blue enthusiastic eyes and a bow tied in her hair patted her chair.

"Chair?"

Peter earned a small look of dissatisfaction from Mr. Cogworth before the girl patted the chair again, nodded, and then widened her hands.

"Couch! Sorry, sorry. I meant couch,"

Mr. Cogsworth narrowed his eyes. "Aimer!"

"Um…"

The blond girls looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well Mr. Pan. I'm waiting," Mr. Cogsworth tapped his foot.

Peter considered giving up when he saw a new girl from the front row give him the answer.

She had curly caramel color hair tied back with a ponytail, letting a few curls fall loose to act as bangs. She wore a very familiar smile as she held up two fingers and nodded towards the French teacher.

"To…" Peter looked at her again.

She configured her fingers to shape a heart.

"Like,"

She quickly shook her head.

"Love! Love. To love. Sorry, my brain stopped for a second,"

It suddenly hit Peter. He had seen her before. And he knew exactly who she was.

"Hmm…" the French teacher squinted at him, "I guess that is enough for you today. Just try to follow along with my class Mr. Pan," he shuffled back to his desk, and began to lecture the class on the conditional mood.

Peter leaned over to an overweight kid with a huge nose.

"Hey, can I borrow a piece of paper and a pencil? For notes,"

The fat kid shrugged and tore a piece of paper out of a marble notebook and passed it to him as well as a pencil he found on the floor.

"Thanks,"

Peter scribbled something in huge letters on the pitifully torn piece of paper. And when the teacher's back was turned, he aimed and threw his pencil at the girl with the caramel colored hair.

Her head sharply turned in his direction. Peter quickly held up the paper before she could give him an angry look.

**Thanks Wendy. **

* * *

><p><span>After the bell for second period rang...<span>

Hades had nothing to do.

Well, besides a mountain of paperwork, he was bored out of his skull.

So for whatever reason, he picked up the letter the ginger left on his desk, and started to read it. The first and second paragraph was legitimate, but as he slipped to the third, the smell of bullshit was strong in the air.

_If you've reached this paragraph, than clearly you have too much time on your hands. Go get a better job, spend time with your wife, something. Man, you're still reading. Congrats, you can now be labeled a loser. This is only for space to look like this is something that someone put his or her time into. Please discontinue your reading. Por favor. You really are wasting life…For the purpose of Peter Pan and Flynn's essay, please allow them to visit for one day at your lovely school. _(At that moment, Peter only put the last sentence of the third paragraph because he knew Hades would immediately look at the bottom of the page.)

Hades lifted his head from the paper, nearly growling. Never before have kids gotten away with something like that. Not with Hades the interrogator. Now with an incident like this, Hades would get fired from his crummy job for sure.

He stood up and cracked his knuckles.

It was time for him to catch some bad kids.


	8. Chapter 8

Students halted their activity when they saw Hades the secretary stalking through the halls. It was almost scary, seeing the secretary not seated behind his infamous mahogany desk. Cheerleaders stopped their chatter as the he passed by, their cheerful smiles slowly disappearing. A couple who was making out earlier quickly spread apart, the girl running as fast as she could down the hall, squealing. Random kids warily closed their lockers, keeping their eyes locked on Hades.

This was not an ordinary sight.

It was rumored that he had an earlier job as a secretary at another high school, and the only time he left his desk was when he had smelled, not found, smelled, half a teaspoon of crack powder a student left on the way out of his office. While searching the student's possessions, sure enough, there was drug, and a lot of it. Not only did the student go to juvie, but some say he was mentally scarred for life, for reasons unknown.

The student originally known as Ed from the notorious gang 'The Hyenas" was never heard from again.

Remembering this story, students knew that Hades was out for blood, and shit was about to go down.

* * *

><p>When the bell rang to end the French class (which Peter slept straight through), he groggily walked to the girls who gave him the answers to the French quiz. He had to make his thanks yous fast, he needed to catch up with Wendy.<p>

The girls were gathering their books when they both stopped to look down and blush as Peter approached them; Peter of course taking no notice.

"Hey, thanks for saving me back there," he rubbed his eyes, "I can hardly speak English as a language alone (and I was born here) so my guessing skills at other languages um... sucks,"

They both giggled. The one with the messy blond bangs handed him a piece of paper.

"You're welcome. My name's Eilonwy, by the way, and this is my friend Alice. Here's something to remember us by, just in case you need help with your French at home," she looked down, red covering her from head to neck.

Peter looked down at the piece of paper, which two numbers on it. Their numbers.

Holy crap.

"Well the problem is..." scratched his neck, "I don't exactly have a cell phone to remember you by,"

Elionwy looked at him as if he was a caveman. Alice smiled.

"Don't worry, my mother never lets me have cell phones either because I only play the pretty games on them," Alice said cheerfully in a British accent, "but if you have a home phone we can keep in touch too,"

This was the part that was hard. How does someone explain that they don't have a home phone either? That was always a problem at Animation High too; which is why the orphans always kept their heads out of the limelight, because having friends with families always lead to unwanted questions.

"Well, I-" but before he could explain, an unlikely savior came to his rescue.

"Okay girls, you better get on going. No one is in the classroom anymore, you're going to be late, late, late! Out you go,"

At that moment, Peter was saved by his childhood friend, Wendy Darling.

She had a habit of doing that.

Wendy pushed them both out of the classroom, leaving her and Peter alone in the French room.

Suddenly, a quick memory flashed through Peter's head.

_"Wendy you're gonna fall!" Flynn shouted._

_Peter couldn't remember how she managed to do it, but somehow she was standing on top of the monkey bars in the rusting playground in the projects next to the orphanage._

_It was a calm day, the sky was blue with no cloud in sight. The area was deserted, the black kids knowing that venturing into that playground was a death sentence, not only because of the occasional shooting, but because every bit of the playground was about to fall apart. But of course, nothing deterred Peter, Aladdin, Flynn and Wendy's pure joy of playing on a real playground, even if the slide was about to split in half any second or the monkey bar couldn't hold more than ninety pounds._

_Wendy had tears streaming down her face as the monkey bars let out a small groan._

_"I can't get down! Somebody catch me!"_

_"I'll do it!" Aladdin immediately volunteered, but Peter rolled his and let out an exasperated sigh and pushed Aladdin out of the way._

_"You're stupid, Wendy. You can jump by yourself,"_

_"She'll break her head open!" wailed Flynn_

_"Nah, she'll only break a leg," Aladdin said, staring anxiously at the girl perilously balanced on the monkey bars._

_"Fine." Peter lifted his arms up, "just jump. I'll catch you,"_

_Peter knew it was going to hurt. That he was ready for. But he wasn't ready for how quickly she jumped off._

_She crashed into his body at what seemed to him one thousand miles per hour, knocking him off his feet. His head banged against the playground floor, and his lungs feeling crushed by Wendy's weight._

_He groaned in pain, only hearing in the background what he thought was someone (Aladdin) dying of laughter, and someone (Flynn) crying and screaming about how he 'could've gotten a head crack' (which was a concussion, in little kid language)._

_Peter had broken his leg from the impact and Wendy got off clean._

The moral of the story?

When someone asks to catch them when they fall, be prepared because you might feel the same pain as they would when they hit rock bottom. Or you know, call an adult when a kid is trapped on the monkey bars of doom.

"Hey Wendy," Peter said smiling, thinking about how he could have missed her name on the exam in Hades' office.

"Hello Peter Pan," said his old childhood friend.

And the ice began to break.

* * *

><p>Peter and Wendy were walking together to Wendy's next class, the hallways nearly empty because they walking as slow as possible, wanting to talk to each other as much as they could.<br>He had already thanked her for telling him the last word in the French quiz, and they had briefly talked about Flynn and Aladdin. She showed her response to them still being stuck in the orphanage by showing a brief moment of pity, but then Peter quickly changed the subject.

"So what are you doing back here? Didn't you move to England?"

"My father was transferred here a few months ago for a job here, ironically," she said in her British accent.

"Ironically because I was here or...?"

"That, and because this was the same place where my family was dirt broke,"

"Oh yeah." Peter didn't come to the conclusion that because she lived near the orphanage, she lived in the dingy flats and, like most of the people in that neighborhood, lived on food stamps, "so now you're rich?"

"Oh Peter don't be so dense,"

"Who uses the word dense? Are you a grandma?"

"I do. Now shut up," Wendy said, "my father had a business opportunity from my uncle in London, he took it, and he is doing fairly well. Well enough to put three children through private school."

Peter stared at her.

"So... you're rich?"

Wendy let out an exasperated sigh, "YES. I am rich,"

"That's all you had to say darling," Peter mockingly patted her cheek, receiving an expression mixed with shock and pleasure from Wendy. She shook her head.

"And Peter, I must ask you. What are you doing he-"

"Shit!" Peter interrupted her, stopping in his tracks and turning around.

He ran behind a group of lockers, dragging Wendy behind him.

"What's going-"

Peter out a hand on Wendy's mouth as he pointed to tall, standing Hades just ahead of them, holding a piece of paper that had the Animation High crest on the top.

"Flynn and I aren't supposed to be here, and because of my cleverness, we got past him. He must have found out, and now he's looking for us. How far is your classroom?"

Wendy pulled his hand off of her mouth and pointed to a room next to them.

Luck doesn't always work out for Peter, but that was the one time it did.

* * *

><p><strong>The story with this chapter… oh my god. <strong>

**I actually got my computer back a while ago, and I even wrote a quick chapter in Puerto Rico on my aunt's computer. So I emailed myself the chapter, to find out on my current computer that mircosoft word doesn't work. So I had to start over from scratch. **

**I wrote AT LEAST ten drafts of this freaking chapter. The only thing I kept was the first section with Hades walking the halls. My chapters involved flashbacks with kissing, situations where Elionwy, Alice and Belle were Wendy's friends and accompanied her and Peter to their next class, really really awkward reunions between Peter and Wendy, and a whole load of crap I would end up deleting. **

**And that wasn't the worst part. **

**Every time I would write on goggle docs, the internet would stop working. I would loose my train of thought, and when the internet started to work again, I would look at the chapter and almost give up. It was horrible. **

**I'm sorry it took realllllllllllllllllllyyyyyy yy long, but I did it for you guys. And for me, because I would keep telling myself:**

**"You actually know where you're going with this story. Just write." **

**So thanks for the support (especially from LearnMeRight and Suzerenma), and please let me know if the chapter needs adjusting (I stayed up until 1:30 half asleep working on this). **

**Bye :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**If you're a little confused, I replaced chapter 8. So those who skipped it should probably read it again. **

* * *

><p>Earlier...<p>

After Flynn and Rapunzel finished Algebra II, Flynn left the class looking like his brain was fried. He stumbled to try to describe the words he felt for that particular class.

"What," was all he managed.

Rapunzel almost died of laughter. She had to grab his shoulder to hold herself up. He knew it was stupid, but Flynn felt his heart beat go up.

"Your-your faaaaaaacccceee," she continued laughing.

"Listen," he said, "I'm taking geometry. That..." he pointed to the classroom, his finger shaking, "is nothing like geometry,"

Rapunzel managed to contain her laughter. She looked at him, grinning.

"Well maybe you'll have better luck in English honors."

Flynn groaned, "why do you take all these classes?" he whined, "what are you, some kind of genius?"

Rapunzel's grin disappeared.

"No. I hate taking all honors classes. I didn't choose them,"

Flynn looked at her quizzically, showing a little concern.

"Then why are you taking them? Can't you tell your parents that you want to switch to something easier?"

She paused, a few seconds later shaking her head.

"It's a little complicated," her hand suddenly reaching for shoulder, "I don't want to talk about it,"

Flynn immediately backed off. He had been in her shoes multiple times when the kids in his school would ask him about being an orphan.

"Okay. Let's just go in,"

He pushed open the door, fully expecting a similar situation in the math class, but what he saw saw was completely different.

The class was insane.

Honestly, he never saw anything like it. Not even in his rambunctious high school did the students act that hyped up. It was similar to the time he drank a mixture of 5 hour energy, monster and redbull, only times ten. And the teacher didn't even have the decency to tell them to settle down. He only laid back in his swivel chair with his feet on the desk, reading Fifty Shades of Gray, seemingly void of all the commotion behind him. At one point a paper ball hit the teacher on the side of the head, to which he had no reaction to.

Flynn looked alarmingly to Rapunzel, who's face was pure white.

"Free time," was all she whispered.

"Huh?"

"Every time Mr. Phillip's class average reaches above ninety five percent, which doesn't happen a lot at all, he'll let us do whatever we want for the period. A couple almost had sex in that closet a few months ago, and someone tried to stack all the desks in the classroom on each other, but they fell down and created that crack in the floor,"

"Whaaaaat?!" Flynn wasn't at all ready for this. But it was better than sitting still in an ordinary classroom. He took a deep breath.

"Let's do this."

With that, he grabbed her hand and dragged her in the class, protecting himself with one hand to shield him from flying projectiles. They both ducked boys who were hanging from a fan, and crawled under a desk they thought looked safe.

"I think we're okay," Rapunzel said, looking at the chaos from outside.

But that was before Peter burst through the doors, dragging a pretty girl who looked fairly familiar. Peter seemed to immediately catch sight of Flynn under the desk, and he ran towards him, diving under the desk, with the girl behind him.

"Dude, dude, dude," he said panting.

"Okay Peter... a little too close..." Flynn said, squished against Rapunzel. Peter pulled farther away, bumping close into Wendy.

"Who's your friend?" Rapunzel asked politely, "and hey Wendy!" Rapunzel smiled,

"This is my dumbass friend, Peter," Flynn said, "wait..."

Flynn's memory suddenly clicked, "Wendy? As in the Wendy who would throw sand in my face when we were like six years old?"

"Oh hello Rapunzel," Wendy said looking over Peter's shoulder to wave to the blond haired girl. Wendy laughed, "yes, Flynn, the same Wendy."

"Whoa! How are you? It's been so long-"

"Flynn!" Peter would have thrown his arms in the air, but instead he shook Flynn by his jacket, "you know the tall ugly man with the slouched back in the office, well, I just saw him in the halls, holding our paper, fuming mad."

Flynn tried consume his words, too caught up in the moment to realize the real trouble they were in.

"Um, should we leave?" he said reluctantly, glancing at Rapunzel, who was listening to their conversation with curiosity.

Peter stared at Flynn.

"Are you high? Yes! You know trespassing? We could get in some serious shit!" Peter said, only knowing this after Wendy had told him the risks.

"PP, come on. This school is huge. What are the chances of him coming in this classroom?"

Flynn would normally never have that much confidence, especially with his luck, so saying something like that surprised him. Normally, when he would state his confidence in such a manner, something immediately contradicted it. It worked with all three of them, so that's why Peter wasn't exactly surprised to see Hades barge through the door almost five seconds after Flynn's last sentence.


	10. Chapter 10

"Closet, closet, closet. Get in the closet." Flynn murmured in panic as he pushed Peter out from under the desk. They both crawled hurriedly out of their old hiding spot. They opened the door to the closet near them and hid inside. The remaining girls under the desk stared at them, and then directed their attention to Hades, who was talking to Mr. Philip. They suddenly noticed that everyone in the classroom stopped what they were doing at the very sight of Hades. The awkward silence that filled the room seemed to make him uncomfortable.

"Phillip, do you mind if we talk outside." Hades growled through his teeth, which would normally make a student piss his/her pants, but Mr. Philip only gave a bored stare into to Hades face.

"Listen, Hades, I'm not moving. I made a goal for myself today, and to accomplish it, I can't move,"

"What's your goal, doing nothing?" Hades rolled his eyes impatiently.

"Yep." Phillip said slowly and looked back down to his book without giving Hades a further answer.

The class stifled their giggles. Hades gave them death stares.

"I know things about all of ya that would never get you in a good college. So watch it," Hades snarled at them, silencing them all.

"Have you seen two kids out of uniform that came in your class recently?" he asked under his breath, but it was heard by Rapunzel and Wendy, who inched close enough to the front of the class while everyone backed away.

Philip put his book down on the desk and stared at Hades with genuine confusion.

"Um, no. Why are there students roaming around without uniforms?"

Wendy and Rapunzel looked at eachother gaping, both thinking the same thing.

How was he that engaged in his book to not notice two boys running through his classroom?!

"Long story. So you haven't seen them? I thought I heard something in here..."

"Hades, people hear many things in this class when free time is happening."

"Yeah but-"

"Kay. Bye Hades," Phillip picked up his book and waved off Hades without looking up. Hades narrowed his eyes and angrily stalked off to the door.  
>The student's eyes followed Hades as he walked away from the desk. As soon as he opened the door to leave, the class returned to it's chaos. At the sound of students yelling and things crashing against the floor, Flynn and Peter snuck out of their hiding place and waved the girls to them. The girls hurried over to them, wide eyes.<p>

"You guys are crazy! How did you get past Hades? He doesn't miss a thing!" Rapunzel asked admiringly.

Peter smiled cockyly, "well, I-"

"Peter shut up, we don't have time," Flynn bit his lip and looked at Rapunzel, "do you have a pen?"

"Oh, yeah..." she dug through her uniform skirt pockets, "here," she handed him a glittery purple pen.

He took it from her and grabbed her hand.

"What are you-"

He scribbled something as fast as he could on her hand.

"This isn't really my number, but if you wanna talk to me this is what you call," he held her hand, giving her a quick smile. She smiled back, both of them sharing a moment.

Peter turned to Wendy.

"You want to hang out sometime? Like, tomorrow after your school finishes?"

Wendy nodded, "where do you want to meet?"

"Um, in that park area by Neverland Avenue? You remember that one?"  
>Wendy cocked her head, "the place where we would play when we were small? I didn't know you were so sentimental Peter," she teased him.<p>

"Hey, shut up. It was the first thing that came to my mind. So you'll be there right?" Peter asked.

"Yes," Wendy's blue eyes sparkled.

* * *

><p>The boys said their goodbyes to the girls and silently left the raging classroom, completely unnoticed by the deadpan teacher Mr. Phillip. As they entered the bright hall with it's shining tiles, silence engulfed them.<p>

"Even if we do get arrested for trespassing, this was totally worth it," Flynn finally said as they snuck through the halls, trying to make their footsteps as quiet as possible.

"Yeah. But I can't believe Wendy's going to this stuck-up school," Peter huffed and turned his head to the wall to look at posters about preventing cheating and bullying.

"Does it matter? She's back. You guys can still hang out. Don't be such a priss," Flynn rolled his eyes.

"Hmm," Peter grumbled.

"Anyway, you're not gonna ask about Rapunzel and I?" Flynn said, changing the subject.

"No," Peter said flatly.

"Well, her family's apparently from Germany, which is like me right? I'm white so I must have some German in me, so that makes us alike-"

"You're racist," Peter said, laughing.

"It doesn't count if I'm dissing my own kind. Geez, get a sense of humor will you?"

The two stopped at a fairly large area with doors labeled "staircase" in the back of them and another long hallway in front of them. They blinked.

"Ummm... do you remember this?" Flynn asked Peter, still looking at the hallway.

"No..." Peter turned to look at the staircase, "well these must go down, right? Unless we're on the bottom floor..."

"We can't be! But I don't remember going up any stairs. Where the hell are we?"

"Come on. Let's just go down the stairs. Besides there might be some teachers or a hall monitor or something down that hall,"

Flynn nodded, and they turned around and walked to the stairs. They opened the door slowly, then, seeing no one was there, tiptoed inside. After a few minutes of walking down the stairs, they heard footsteps echo through the quiet. Their eyes went wide and they both sprinted back up the stairs and crashing through the doors.

They ignored the pain (with a few cursing exceptions from Flynn), and sped towards a temporary classroom to escape. Peter was way ahead of Flynn when he changed courses and entered through a door, nearly creating a dent in the wall as he forcefully opened the door. To his pure amazement, no one was in the room.

It must have been an English room, because of the posters of famous lines of poetry above an old fashioned chalkboard. The air conditioner was apparently broken because a steady trickle of water dripped into a bright red bucket. The only thing extremely odd was a gigantic window smack in the middle of a wall. Peter walked closer.

"We've lost him-or-her-or... it. We've lost it," Flynn said, panting as he came through the door, "Peter man, you run fast as hell. I've seen black kids slower, and that's a huge compliment,"

But Peter was too busy staring out the window to notice Flynn's observation.

He was looking down at below, at the parking lot with the perfectly trimmed trees lining the sides and how promising the exit looked.

"Hey Flynn..." Peter turned his head from the window, "you know, the jump isn't too far down..."

Flynn felt chills slip down his spine. Whenever Peter Pan worded his statements like that, nothing would change his mind for what he was about to do.

"No, no, no, no, no, no. Peter don't even think about it," Flynn turned white as Peter rolled his eyes.

"It's like a one story jump, dude. We've done worse. And besides, what if he catches us trying to go out the other exit? Then what? We have to go through this way," he pointed out the open window.

Flynn stuttered, "Peter, no. Just don't," Peter smirked and opened the window, "stop! STOP!" Peter deliberately threw his legs out into the open air,  
>Flynn ran as fast as he could to the window, and grabbed Peter under his arms and started dragging him out, much to Peter's anger. At a halfway point between the outside of the window and inside the classroom, Peter managed to vigorously shake off Flynn. Again, he scooted out the window, this time he was completely outside. Flynn flushed, suddenly saying what for some reason was at the top of his head.<p>

"I'LL TELL WENDY!"

Why Flynn said that still puzzles him to this day.

Peter raised his eyebrow,

"You'll tell Wendy? She's not like my mother or anything. Are you high?"

"ARE _YOU_ HIGH?! YOU'RE ABOUT TO JUMP OUT OF A FREAKING WINDOW!"

Peter huffed and positioned himself to where he was balancing precariously on the ledge while only grabbing the window sill with one hand.

"Kay bye, you codfish," with that, he saluted Flynn with his free hand and jumped.

Flynn screamed a curse word loud enough for the entire school to hear. He stood in shock for a few seconds, then sprinted to the window and stuck his head out, fully expecting Peter to be flat faced on the pavement with his head detached.

But there was Peter, standing completely unharmed in a parking lot, looking up at the window with an "I-told-you-so" look.

"YOU DUMB SHIT." Flynn screamed out the window.

"Listen, the jump isn't that far! Just try and avoid the the car," Peter said, cupping his hands.

Flynn looked down, and indeed, there was a crappy black mustang parked directly beneath the class.

"How in the bejesus did you miss that?!" Flynn looked at his friend as if he just saw a unicorn driving a bus.

"I just did! Now jump!" Flynn inched hesitantly to the open window,

"Don't think, even if you do think, just think of happy thoughts. Okay?

Flynn slowly made his way out of the window pane.

"Come on! Jump Flynn!"

I am so going to die.

With those words, Flynn jumped.

* * *

><p><strong>Heyy guys! I know Phillip is kind of out of character, but since he had no personality in Sleeping Beauty, I figured I'd make one up for him. :P Also, just want to say I might not be updating as quickly as I would like because of school -_-<strong>

**See you guys! Good luck w/ school! **


	11. Chapter 11

Aladdin was just reaching the street of the orphanage when he stopped mid-step, feeling hesitant to go back to a place where middle-school boys dared each other to run into walls for fun. It was getting too cold to stay out any longer, and it took longer than he expected to get there, but when he compared his options, he realized that going back early in the day would cause him more headaches than the cold. He turned around, not really aware of where he was going. He just wandered, for once, alone.

Aladdin was fairly admired at Animation High. Everyone found him likeable and funny in a sweet way. He used to have a few girlfriends, but like Flynn and Peter Pan, he wasn't one for limelight and attention. It was nice, of course, but then there was explaining to people that he had no parents to attend the PTA or go with him to parent-teacher conferences, which made everything weird.

He took a deep breath. What was with the weird depression spells today? He shook himself and smiled, trying wipe away feelings of sadness. He looked up, a familiar street sign in his vision.

Funny. Peter had always said the very best and the very worst happened on Neverland Avenue. Aladdin mentally crossed his fingers that it would one of the very best things today. For a moment he stared at the sign, looking at Peter and Tink's names carved over the word 'never'. He rolled his eyes. Those two were such dumbasses when they used to hang out.

_Used _to.

Aladdin shuddered. He didn't want to even touch on that memory.

He walked down the sidewalk that curved the corner of the street. He looked at the apartments and buildings. Something was off about them. No, something was off about the entire place. Aladdin looked around desperately, knowing something was weird about the area. Then it suddenly clicked.

Nothing had changed.

No new buildings, or new people he saw roaming through the street. No new advertisements clinging onto any fences or telephone poles, he still saw one for "Dog House", a movie he hadn't seen since he was a kid. It was like time had reversed.

As he was staring incredulously at the setting, he felt a tap on his back. He jumped, but then turned around, to see a friend from school smiling at him.

"Oh hey Tianna," he was somehow relieved to see she that was there. He remembered a point where she was a loud little girl with pigtails. Now she was beautiful, with smooth brown skin a smile that made anybody smile along with her. She was the symbol of change, the exact opposite of Neverland Avenue.

"Hey Al! Whatcha doing here? Dontcha live on Braxton Street?"

"Yeah but I decided to walk around,"

"You're the only person I know that walks for fun," she shook her head.

"Hey, peace and quiet are virtues,"

"Ain't it patience?" she asked, smiling.

"You say potato," he said in her southern accent, "and I say potato" he said in an Arab accent. He grinned as Tianna laughed and playfully pushed his shoulder.

"Anyways, what are _you_ doing here?" Aladdin asked Tianna.

"I have a job at Dan's," she opened a jacket to show Dan's and Son's cheesy 50's yellow uniform.

"Don't you work Hal's too? You're crazy. I can't keep one job for more than a week."Aladdin said.

She sadly smiled, "yeah. Whatever it takes. I needa leave. And college 's the only that's ever gon' happen,"

"I know that feeling too," he gave her a considerate smile, "hey, can I go with you to get free water or something at your restaurant?"

Tianna laughed, "sure,"

* * *

><p>The good news: Flynn didn't die.<p>

The bad news: he left a gigantic dent the black car's hood.

Peter covered his mouth from laughing out loud and shouting a certain curse word as loud as Flynn did when he landed. Flynn was now groaning in pain, lying himself over hood and curling in a ball.

Peter approached Flynn to see if there was any blood or if his foot was twisted at an odd angle. He seemed fine, and besides, Flynn landed well enough to not cause internal bleeding or whatever. Peter pushed him slightly.

"Hey, listen, you know, a classroom below us might've seen us jump, so we might wanna run. Just a suggestion."

Flynn made his way off the car, sprouting curse words as he limped towards Peter. He looked at him bitterly.

"Just so you know, thinking happy thoughts when you're jumping off a building is by far the stupidest advice you ever gave,"

"Hey, it worked with me,"

With that, the two boys ran as fast as they could.

When Aladdin and Tiana reached Dan's and Son's, Aladdin nearly melted from the smell of the food. He (not for the first time that day) wished he had some kind of money. Even monopoly money would at least give him the feeling of having something you spend.

Inside, it was an average restaurant that looked like it had attempted to recreate a 50's theme, but stopped half-way through. The waiters and waitresses had similar uniforms to those that might have been in the 50's, and there were some pictures of Elvis, but that was it. But design was meaningless if the food was awesome; which apparently it was because there were a good number people sitting at tables and booths.

"I gotta go honey," Tiana said, "but I might be able to sneak some food for ya,"

"Oh no, you don't have to-" Aladdin objected.

But Tiana had already jogged to the kitchen, the chef shouting orders to her. Aladdin shrugged and sat down at a open table. He opened a menu, trying to look like he was going to order something.

"Hello, I'm Nakoma, I'll be one of your servers today. Would you like something to drink?"

Aladdin looked up at an attractive busty Native American woman who was about twenty years old. He smiled sheepishly.

"Um, tap water's free right?"

"Yeah, but we have Pepsi, Coke, and lemonade for a price that's similar to free," she said with a smile that suggested her boss told her to squeeze money out of any customer she could.

"It's okay. I'll have tap water. And it might take awhile for me to order. You have so many choices..." he picked up that menu again and pretended to look at the items.

"Alright. I'll see you in twenty minutes,"

Aladdin put down the menu as she walked away. He sighed and relaxed in his seat, taking in the amazing smell of the food that the table next to him had. He suddenly hoped Tiana was able to bring him something, because it was almost twelve thirty, when the orphanage had lunch, and there was no chance of leftovers. His stomach grumbled, on cue. He looked over to the table across from him; his first intention to gaze at their food.

But what he saw made him do a double take.

At that table were the very girls who Aladdin, Peter Pan, and Flynn saw at the bus stop!


	12. Chapter 12

Peter and Flynn sped through a crosswalk, nearly knocking over a few pedestrians. Peter swerved around a fire hydrant once they reached the sidewalk. Flynn jumped over a hobo that crouched down to pick a nickel off the ground, and almost tripped when his feet hit the ground.  
>The two agreed to look for a bus stop as fast as they could, if they couldn't find one, they had to meet up at an ice cream store they spotted on during the bus trip on the way to the school and figure out how to get home. Either way, they both underestimated the length from their neighborhood to the school, and predicted they wouldn't be home for a while.<p>

"Hey asshole, slow down!" Flynn gasped out between sprints as he noticed that the sidewalk was disappearing into the road, which was a busy 4-way street.

Peter and Flynn stopped, Flynn having to grab a telephone pole to slow himself down. He swung around, catching his breath. Peter pressed the crosswalk button, not appearing winded at all.

"Look, I see a bus stop over there," Peter pointed to a blue sign across the highway, "all we have to do is cross this and wait,"

Flynn nodded and leaned against the pole, closing his eyes. Peter tapped his foot as he stared at the sign, waiting for the allowance to walk across. After about five minutes of staring at the red hand on the sign, Peter gave up.

"This is boring."

And at that moment, he lept off the sidewalk and burst into busy highway. Flynn ignored his statement at first, but a familiar noise brought him to attention.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Flynn's eyes shot open as he heard the sound of screeching brakes, and Peter running across the highway.

He watched Peter swerve out of the way from a speeding minivan, filled with kids who were pressing their face against the glass. Flynn felt incredibly scared, yet he couldn't take his eyes away from the spectacle. Peter Pan stopped, rising on his tiptoes, to let a truck fly past him.

Peter kept speeding like his life depended on it. A small red car got so close to hitting him that Flynn could almost feel Peter's moment of utter panic. But at the last second, it u-turned and almost collided with another car coming from the left. Flynn held back a scream when it crashed into a Porsche instead.

"WHY MUST YOU CAUSE DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE YOU GO?! THAT MAKES ME LOOK BAD!" Flynn wailed.

Finally the next car slowed down when it saw Peter still sprinting across the asphalt, but Flynn was far from relieved.

The familiar sound of police sirens blared from the car like obnoxious birds. Flynn wanted to faint.

_What are the freaking odds?!_

* * *

><p>Aladdin stared at the girls sitting across from him. He started to list all the things wrong with the picture.<p>

1. They got on the bus, and basically ditched what would have been first, second and third period. Why didn't they just not get on the bus?

2. They were in Neverland Avenue, in freaking Dan's and Son's. Why didn't they just go to Whole Foods or Starbucks in the 'safer' area of town?

3. They were still in their uniforms.

But it didn't matter too much to Aladdin, the only thing he was really concerned about was not blowing a chance to talk to them, especially to the gorgeous Indian girl that had a smile that was almost as pretty as Tiana's.

Her eyes were big and almond shaped, and her raven hair was put in an extremely long ponytail that let her hair part perfectly. Her brown skin was completely flawless, and her body looked perfect.

Aladdin peeked around his menu to gaze at her.

"Wooooooww," he whispered, his surprised expression replaced with a dreamy smile. The other girls were hot too. One had incredibly golden wavy hair and a face that rivaled any model's. The other girl had straight brown hair and a bunch of eyeliner on. But the Indian girl...

Aladdin cleared his throat and got up from his seat. He was not going to blow it this time.

He walked to the girls table and put on his classic charismatic smile. As he approached them, the girls' talking died out. The blonde nudged the Indian girl.

"Hey. I'm Aladdin. What are your names?"

* * *

><p>The thought of running away from the situation literally passed through Flynn's mind. It would be so easy. Just act like he had no idea who the crazy ginger was, find a bus stop himself, and get home in time for curfew. Flynn shook his head and quickly stomped out that idea's appeal before he could convince himself to do it. It definitely wouldn't take much after the dumbass stunt Peter pulled.<p>

He almost pissed himself when the cop car rolled down the window, and saw a middle-aged male stick his head out, shouting:

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING BOY?!"

Peter appeared to stop and shrug, then kept on running, only a few feet away from the safety of the sidewalk.

"STOP BEFORE I SHOOT YOU!"

Flynn could only make out a few words of what Peter said, but it was definatly something like:

"Officer! You would never shoot a young, white boy like me, would you?"

"GET OVER HERE YOU SOULLESS CRETEN!"

Man, this guy likes to shout, Flynn thought.

He watched Peter stroll casually toward the cop. They started to talk, but Flynn couldn't hear most of the conversation over the beeping of angry cars, still waiting for the cop to move out of the middle of the street. Some cars even decided to go completely around, after a few minutes.  
>Flynn saw that the conversation between the two was getting fairly intense, by measuring much hand motions they used. He suddenly watched in horror as Peter pointed at Flynn, and motioned to himself.<p>

"HEY BOY, GET OVER HERE," the cop shouted.

"I'm dead." Flynn whimpered. But he ran over anyways, seeing no safe way out of the situation.

When he reached the car (luckily without causing destruction) the first thing he saw was the cap's hand sticking out of the car window. It seems almost, inanimate to Flynn. It didn't respond with the cop's body movement. As he got closer, he realized that it was a prosthetic, plastic, female hand.

"Your hand!" Flynn said without thinking.

The cop turned around in the car's seat, and Flynn was immediately baffled at how strange his face was. He had an incredibly long and thin face, with a bizarrely huge nose. On top of that, he had shoulder-length black hair. As far as looks, this guy had nothing going for him.

"What about my hand?" the cop said, looking offended.

"It's a girl hand! Why? What happened?"

At that point, Peter Pan intervened, "Flynn, that's not important. Turns out, this is my best friend Brandon's dad, James Hook!" Flynn stared at him in disbelief as Peter continued "and he was on his way to see his wife and son at our orphanage! What are the odds!" Peter laughed unconvincingly, "and I convinced him to drive us there."

Flynn was speechless for a moment, but then found his voice, "so," he looked at the cop, "you're gonna give us a ride? After Peter here ran across a busy street and caused a car crash?"

"I have to, boy" he glared at Flynn, "this orangy-headed lad knew the police system fairly well. He said I have to bring you home and tell your guardian a warning. Which would be my lovely wife, the headmistress of your... home. So get in,"

Peter opened the door and hopped in the car. Flynn, in awe, did the same. Hook started the engine and finally moved from the intersection. It was official. Flynn and Peter were sitting in a cop car for the first time, and most likely not the last.


	13. Chapter 13

Flynn was genuinely afraid for his life. He couldn't remember a time when he was so terrified, except maybe during his freshmen year when he was tricked into watching the school secretary Orddu take a shower. But his and Peter Pan's knuckles were white while they gripped the sides of the police car, for if they let go they would be tossed around the car like stones in a blender on full blast. Mr. Hook had to be the worst driver Flynn ever seen.

The cop was unnecessarily blasting down the highway like bullet. He passed cars with such aggression that Flynn was sure every driver had greeted the cop's car with a certain finger held angrily in the air. Peter's head banged against the window as the car turned abruptly to enter through an exit. As they were turning, Flynn was leaning so much from the momentum his grip broke from the car door and he slammed into Peter. Peter's face pressed up against the car's tinted windows. They could literally hear tires screeching as the car finally entered into straight-road territory. The boys fell back to their seats.

"Peter." Flynn glanced at over his shoulder, his heart beating.

"Yeah?" he asked, holding onto the car door even tighter as the crazed policeman attempted to pass an 18 wheeler that was doing at least 80 miles per hours.

"If we die, I'm going to kill you,"

"But you'll be dead... and I'll be dead... Moron."

"I'll kill you in hell. How's that?" Flynn stifled a 'HOLY SHIT!' as the police car zoomed through a red light and almost collided with a convertible.

"Yeah well, at least we'll get back really fast," Peter said when they were in safe territory again, "hey man, how'd you get that plastic arm?" he asked Hook, needing to distract him from driving too quickly.

The boys heard the man clear his throat and sigh deeply.

"Well lads, its a long story..."

* * *

><p>Tiana was just about to bring a customer his order when she spotted Aladdin walking to the girls table. She sighed and shook her head. Boy doesn't know what he's getting into. She knew them girls well, or at least how they acted around poor folk. They act all nice at first, then they stab ya hard in the back. She felt sadness overcome her. Aladdin would fall for one of them, she just knew it. How could he not? Them girls are everything Aladdin don't have on a high pedestal. The harder they are to get, the harder he'll try and the harder he'll fail.<p>

"You jealous Tiana?"

Tiana spun around to see Ray smiling to himself, clearing a customer's table. Ray had light brown skin, and strange red hair fashioned into dreadlocks. He was incredibly skinny, and had two of his front teeth missing from a past fight. He always wore clothes that seemed to be five sizes too big and had a strong Cajun accent.

"No Ray," Tiana said playfully, "I'm just worried for his well being, if you what I'm getting at,"

"Mmm-hmm," he nodded, "them white girls, they don't leave you men-tally stable. They dun mess wit your head 'n leave you all crazy. I should know, Evangaline and me-"

"Ray, Evangaline is pornstar. Louis showed me already. We know she ain't really your girlfriend,"

"Oh but she is! We talk every night, 'bout meetin' eachother here. I can hardly wait! Eee!" he squealed with excitement. Tiana smiled and shook her head. If he wanted to fantasize about a romance between him and a pornstar, so be it. Whatever made him happy, made Tiana happy.

"Anywho, you gon' drop that order off at a table? Them customers, dey sure look hungry," Ray motioned towards the plate of food she was holding.

Tiana laughed nervously and scuttled off towards the hungry customers, still glancing at Aladdin from the corner of her eye.

* * *

><p>Aladdin stood awkwardly for a minute, still holding onto his smile. The girls seemed to stare into his soul, probably wondering why on earth some lowlife like him dared to talk to them. He gulped, his confidence going down the drain.<p>

"You're pretty foreword aren't you?"

Aladdin nearly gasped at how beautiful the blonde girl's voice was. It was so sugary and high, it didn't seem real.

"He's foreword isn't he girls?" the blonde girl looked at the girls around the table, who nodded and shrugged in response, "I like that. Are you like, foreign?"

"What?" Aladdin said, taken back.

"Geez Rose!" the Indian girl face palmed.

"I mean like come on, only foreign boys to walk straight up to girls like that. Which is why girls are attracted to them more than normal guys," Rose winked at him.

Aladdin's confidence rose again, "Well I am from California. Does that count for being foreign?' He laughed, but wondering to himself:

Where the hell did I pull that lie from?

"Haha, no!" Rose laughed.

"Are you really from California? My uncle lives there," the brunette said, giving him a slight smile.

"I am! What's his name?"

She examined her nails, "Yankee Irving," she said casually.

"The baseball player? No way!" Aladdin said excitedly.

"Mmm-hmm,"

"Sit down! We gotta introduce ourselves here," Rose said, waving him over.

"Sure," Aladdin said, sitting down in an empty chair .

"Okay, so I'm Briar Rose," she said cheerfully, "this is Vanessa," she pointed to the one with the brunette hair, "and this lovely chica is Jasmine," she pointed to the Indian girl.

"Nice to meet you," he smiled at Jasmine, who quickly looked down as soon as his eyes met hers.

"It's okay Jasmine, he won't bite you," Rose playfully teased her. She turned to Aladdin, "unless you're into that. If you've got like a biting fetish then that's cool. Because I met this guy who totally-"

"No Rose!" Vanessa said, shocked.

"Don't tell that story to strangers," Jasmine looked disgusted, but with a slight joking smile involved. Briar Rose rolled her eyes.

"Anyways," she said, "what's your name?"

Aladdin didn't even pause when he said:

"Ali."


	14. Chapter 14

Aladdin ended up walking the girls to their car. It turned out, the girls had left school early to go on a field trip to a soup kitchen, which was in the area.

"We took a little detour afterwards," Briar Rose chirped as they walked across the street, "it was Jasmine's idea."

"Oh yeah?" Aladdin looked warmly Jasmine. She had a trace of a smile on her lips.

"Yeah. I've always wanted to explore the area, but my father would never let me," she told him.

"Frankly, I don't blame him," Vanessa said, avoiding eye contact with a cluster of thugs, "this place is sketchy."

"Gee, thanks." Aladdin said jokingly. But being with someone who was a higher class than he was made him suddenly feel self conscious. He found himself being embarrassed for the poverty around him, even if it wasn't his fault.

"You live around here?" Vanessa's mouth dropped open, "you seem so...classy. For a place like this I mean."

Aladdin was taken back. He was about to respond when Briar Rose interrupted,

"Think of that as a compliment. Vanessa isn't very good at those," she smirked at her brunette friend, who rolled her eyes in response. "But do you really live around here? Maybe we could visit sometime. Got any hot friends for my girls over here?" she winked.

He laughed while Jasmine and Vanessa protested. When they reached the car, Briar Rose and Vanessa hopped in the front seats. Aladdin stood with Jasmine as the engine purred to a start. He spoke first.

"Will I ever see you again?" he asked.

"Really? We just met," she raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't feel the sparks flying? I'm hurt." he said playfully.

"Oh I saw them. I think my hair almost caught on fire," they laughed, "well, I have to go," she opened the door while keeping eye contact with him, "hopefully I'll see you again, Romeo,"

"Do you mean it?"

Jasmine paused, as if to think the question over and over again.

"Yeah. I think I do," she smiled at him, and got in the car. While she was shutting the door, Aladdin saw Briar Rose's hand stick out of the window to wave him over. He complied, and leaned down to the car window with a playful smile on his lips.

"Listen, she's a toughie," she slipped a piece of paper in Aladdin's hand, "this is her facebook and number. But don't like, call her right away because then she would suspect something. Facebook is way less creepy."

Aladdin grinned.

"Can I hug you?"

Briar Rose looked surprised, but shrugged and got out of the car. She threw her arms around him, almost knocking him off his feet.

"You're the best wing-lady ever," he laughed as she let go.

"Thanks. I try." she fluffed her hair and got back in the car.

He started to walk away as they backed up from their parking spot. Aladdin imagined that Vanessa and Jasmine would ask her what all of that was about. He pictured Briar Rose saying in a singsong voice 'nootthiiiing.'

He walked the other way, not facing the car as it sped down Neverland Avenue.

* * *

><p>James Hook was a liar.<p>

It was the truth. If he had the chance to lie, he would take it, even for the most trivial things. For instance, if someone asked him what he had for breakfast, he would lie and say something like: 'blueberry pancakes. I've been eating blueberry pancakes since I was a young lad.' So when he was asked by someone besides his family and coworkers about his cut off hand, it was the perfect opportunity.

"I was called for backup when the squad hunted down the notorious Mister Grin, someone who was a drug dealer. His cover story was selling clocks, for what reason I don't know." Hook said.

"Me squad had him and his gang cornered. They were surrounded. Now, this skinny looking man shouts this: 'IT'S NINE IN THE AFTERNOON BOYS!" Within shouting that, Hook took both hands off the wheel to form a half finger gun half regular hand. The car jiggled and swerved slightly, but he quickly put his hands back on the wheel.

"A swarm of these freaks from behind start shooting. Officers start dropping like flies while the gang started to run. I pulled out my rifle-"

"Wait," Flynn said, "a rifle?"

Hook paused. He slowly brought his eyes to the mirror at the top of the car, "yes. A rifle."

"Don't the police carry around a hand gun? This isn't the 1800s."

"It was special rifle!" Hook protested over Peter Pan's muffled laughter.

"Sure it was." Flynn said sarcastically.

"Shut up boy," Hook growled, "I pulled out my rifle, and shot at the goons. It was down

to four officers and ten thugs. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mister Grin escaping. I knew it was up to me. With the last of my amo, I shot the living daylights out of the fat bastard. I didn't notice the pain, right here," he lifted his arm with the fake hand off the wheel, "it was too late when the doctors found the bullets in my hand. They had to cut it right off!"

He scanned the mirror for the boys' reactions. Hook somehow mistook their looks skepticism for looks of shock.

"That story is..." Peter said, slowly bringing his eyes to the mirror to meet Hooks', "full of shit."

Well, what had Hook expected? Peter knew more about criminal activity than Hook ever did. Both Peter and Flynn knew that Mister Grin was still alive. In fact, it was Peter himself located Mister Grin's address and dragged Aladdin along with him to visit the criminal's house for the sole purpose of getting his autograph.

That being said, it was understandable why Hook choose to tell a fable instead of the truth, besides the fact that he was a compulsive liar. He actually lost his left hand when he fell asleep while using a paper cutter to help file documents in his wife's orphanage. His hand was positioned at the top of the slicer, and when an orange-headed four year old had punched the sleeping James Hook in the stomach, the shock had brought his hand to bring the slicer down on the other one. That's incredibly boring compared to a shootout with drug lords.

And yes, if you are wondering, the orange-headed four year old was the one and only Peter Pan.


	15. Chapter 15

Aladdin came home to chaos. To this day, he wonders why he was surprised at all.

Every single boy in the orphanage was out in the yard, even Milo and Lewis, who normally stayed inside to read or study. They were all standing around a car that was parked in the driveway, shouting and throwing whatever they had in their hands at the windows. Out of the cacophony, Aladdin heard Slightly, a Lost Boy, shout: "LET 'EM GO, LET 'EM GO!" and a muffled wail. He was so enthralled by the scene he didn't notice the Headmistress behind the crowd of boys, holding a green hose.

She hitched up her skirt, and planted her feet firmly on the ground. With a click, a jet of water shot from the nozzle and pelted the kids.

Aladdin watched horrified. Screams ensued as water soaked the bodies. The boys tripped over each other to get out of the way, reminding Aladdin the way piglets ran away from a butcher.

The Headmistress stood indifferent as she moved the hose left and right, making sure she hit every single kid. Finally, when they all ran back inside, she turned off the water, and the mystery vehicle was revealed.

It was a police car.

Aladdin gasped. He walked behind her as she ambled slowly and menacingly towards it, reaching the window. She stood still, keeping the frightening look of indifference. The window slowly crept open, revealing a man with a strangely long face crouched in the fetal position with a terrified expression.

"James." the women said. James twitched, "JAMES."

"Are they gone yet?" the man whispered.

"Yes. Now get up."

James complied, and the Headmistress told him to open the other windows. Once the windows slid down, she reached in, grabbing a lock of black hair.

"Flynn?" Aladdin's mouth dropped open.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," Flynn said as the Headmistress proceeded to pull his whole body out the window.

She leaned in and whispered into Flynn's ear, "we'll discuss this inside." he whimpered in response.

Even in the distance, Aladdin could recognize Peter Pan's shock of red hair as slipped away from the scene and into the orphanage. The Headmistress, still holding Flynn, turned her head and shook her fist at him,

"DON'T THINK YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!" she roared, "I'LL GET YOU BOY, IF IT IS THE LAST THING I DO!"

She was too far away to hear Peter laughing in response.

* * *

><p>After the Headmistress dealt out the boys' punishments (a week of everybody's chores, earlier curfews, and later lunches) and Hook was sent back to the station, the three musketeers convened in their bedroom and traded stories.<p>

"It seems like we all got the girls today," Aladdin laughed. He knew he should've been mad at them for ditching him, but everything turned out fine. Besides, if was dragged along with them, he would have never met Jasmine.

"Yeah," Flynn smiled to himself, "weird, isn't it?"

"What's weird?" Peter asked from the top bunk.

"All we did is do something out of routine, and our lives just... changed," Flynn reflected.

"Welp, I think I'll run across highways all the time if it means my life will be changed," Peter said.

"No, please don't ever do that again," Flynn rubbed his temples, "that was too much."

"Aw, you're such a grandma Flynn."

"Shut up Soulless."

"You shut up."

"Great comback. I'll give it a 10 out of 10."

"You two are such a cute couple." Aladdin grinned, leaning back on his pillow.

"I'd never date a grandma, what's wrong with you Aladdin?" Peter said, disgusted.

After some more arguing and a few card games, they went to bed early. They couldn't do anything else, for the rest of the day the Headmistress had forbidden them from leaving the room. But while the other boys lay asleep, Aladdin stayed awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the new changes to come.

* * *

><p><strong>Haha yeah I'm back. It feels good to be writing again. <strong>

**Just so you know, the Headmistress and Brandon are my own characters. Just picture the Headmistress as the unholy spawn of the Queen of Hearts and Madame Medusa (the lady from The Rescuers). **

**Anywho, thanks for the support. Love you guys :D**


	16. Chapter 16

For the rest of spring break, things were normal. Well, at least as normal as it had to be. Though Flynn and Peter were under house arrest by the Headmistress, they still found ways to create chaos with Aladdin, as usual. The only thing different was Flynn's absence from the world at 4:30 every day.

The boys started to notice after he wasn't there on gambling day. This was an invention by Aladdin when he noticed the Headmistress normally went to Dan's and Son's for lunch on Friday's for an hour or two. She would leave Brandon in charge, who was almost as strict as she was. However, he had one weakness:

Games of chance.

Aladdin used this to his advantage. Every Friday at 4:30, he and a few other boys would set up tables and play every game of chance they knew. It was a perfect in the way it distracted Brandon so the kids could do whatever they wanted, and perfect in the way it provided entertainment.

Flynn was a frequent player on gambling day. The boys knew something was horribly wrong if he didn't show up.

They sent Goob, a 12 year old little leaguer, to look for him after Aladdin dealt the cards for poker. He complied, walking through the halls slowly. His eyes trailed up to Headmistress's door. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and pushed it open.

There was Flynn, his legs propped up on the Headmistress's desk, talking into the cord business phone with a soft smile on his face.

"Really? I think your hair would look awesome green-"

"Aladdin's looking for you." Goob interrupted

"AH!" Flynn screamed and dropped the phone, "aw shit," he picked it up, "hey, Rapunzel? yeah I'm ok. Hold on a sec," he put the phone on the desk, "GOOB! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"But we're playing poker,"

"I don't care! Leave me alone!"

Goob groaned, "fine." he walked out of the room.

Flynn waited until he couldn't hear Goob's shuffling feet, "hey blondie. Sorry about that. No, haha, that was my dumb... orphanmate. I know! that sounds really weird." he paused. So when did you say we could-"

The door flew open. Aladdin, Peter Pan, and a few of the Lost Boys stood in the doorway.

"Goob said you weren't going to play." Aladdin crossed his arms.

"What the hell is this? Can I please have some privacy?!"

"Whoever it is can wait man, I already dealt you in,"

"Deal someone else in! Why is this so important to you?"

"I made this business from the ground up. If you don't play, it affects everyone else. Once you're in, you're in man."

"What? You- this isn't the mafia!"

"Fine. I'll just let the Lost Boys discuss this with you." Aladdin moved through the crowd of preteens and out of the door. Flynn almost felt relieved when the door shut and Aladdin left, but the fear quickly replaced his tranquility. Slightly, The Twins, Cubby, and Tootles surrounded the desk. Flynn turned pale.

"Hey, um, Slightly... what are you doing with that water balloon?"

The preteen with large front teeth grinned, stroking the inflated balloon like a cat, "oh nuthin."

"Ok... could you leave then?"

"Nope!"

In sync, every Lost Boy hurled a water balloon at Flynn's head. Some missed, hitting picture frames and filing cabinets. Nevertheless, Flynn was soaked. Water dripped from his clothes as he hurled himself at Slightly, knocking him down. Slightly screamed as he tried to wriggle away from Flynn's grip, but Flynn managed to get one punch to Slightly's head before he ran away crying at the top of his lungs with the other Lost Boys trailing behind him.

He brushed himself off and walked back to the phone.

"Rapunzel?" water dripped from his hair and onto the desk.

_"Yes?"_ she chirped.

"Oh thank God. I thought you hung up,"

_"Haha nope. That was way too interesting to make me hang up,"_

"You heard all of that? Now you see what I have to deal with."

_"Oh it sounds wonderful."_ she said blissfully, _"I would love to have a little brother or sister,"_

"You just witnessed me being jumped by a mob of preteens and you still think having a brother or sister would be amazing? You're crazy."

_"Oh shut up,"_ she giggled.

"Haha. So you think we could meet up sometime this week? I can't stay here any longer." he looked through the door's window to see if any other of the boys would come through.

_"Actually, you can come over to my house at 7:00 tonight. My mother will be gone."_

"Really?" Flynn's face lit up, "I'll be there."

* * *

><p>After giving into a few games of poker, Flynn began his journey to Rapunzel's house using a set of directions she gave him. He stole Brandon's bike and used a flashlight he found in the Headmistress's cabinet. He taped it onto the front, and set off.<p>

The directions were simple, and it was about a 20 minute bike ride away. 10 if he pedaled hard enough, which he did. By the time he reached the neighborhood, he was out of breath and sweaty. He slowed his pedaling down, eyeing each of the houses, looking for the tallest one on the block.

_"It's pretty much a tower. You can't miss it,_" she had said.

Flynn wiped the sweat off his head. His eyes scanned the mansions lined against each other, the light from the flashlight illuminating them. And suddenly, there it was.

"Whoa." Flynn stopped the bike, and took in the sight.

A four story tower with flowers on vines slithering up the side loomed over Flynn. It was modernly fashioned, though there was something strangely medieval about it. There was another impressive architectural house that trailed around it, but the tower definitely stole the show. Still looking up at it, Flynn parked his bike in some bushes and turned off the flashlight.

He sauntered towards it, staring at the lone window in the center. He felt very compared to it. And when someone feels small, they tend to yell to feel bigger. So that's what Flynn did.

"RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL, LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!" he gestured to the window in a dramatic flourish.

In a few seconds, a fountain of gold hair flowed out of the window. A head popped through the hair as if it were curtains.

"Can my hair reach the bottom yet?" Rapunzel asked enthusiastically.

"Not even close," Flynn answered, laughing at her swaying hair that barely reached two meters from the window.

"Can't you just.. pretend?" she said wistfully, putting her shoulders on the windowsill and letting her head rest in her hands.

"Oh sure." he said jokingly, "come on, let me up, it's scary out here."

"Ok!"

She disappeared from the window. Flynn waited for a few minutes, then heard Rapunzel's voice beckoning him from the front door from the other house. He walked towards her.

The inside of the house was immaculate. Everything was polished and shined so it had a glow. There was a flat screen TV with an X-box placed on a sleek TV holder, and vases of flowers on chic coffee tables. Flynn couldn't help marveling at everything he saw, even if he saw the slightly embarrassed look on Rapunzel's face.

They finally reached the top of the tower, which was Rapunzel's room.

"It's not very clean, but I did my best." she sheepishly smiled.

She opened the door, revealing a room with books, art pads and water color paints strewn across the floor. Flynn's mouth dropped open as he noticed that the walls were painted with fantastical yet exquisite pictures. Colors were used in sunsets and paintings of the sea. Shades of green formed the tail of a perfectly painted mermaid, someone who looked an awful like someone Flynn knew at Animation High.

"This is amazing." he marveled.

"Hehe thanks," she brushed hair behind her ear, "it took me three summers to finally finish it."

"Three summers? Did you leave the house at all?" he stared at the walls.

"Sometimes. This was just something that I was obsessed with for a while. I guess I just need to do something else now," she half smiled, looking at the painting of a rainbow chameleon perched on a branch. She seemed lost for a moment, then she turned her head to Flynn.

"Wanna play some Xbox?" she smiled.

It was at that moment when Flynn knew he was in love.


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning at the orphanage was cold, much to the boys royal discontentment. The sound of the heater shook and rang through the night, not that much of them slept anyway. Over half the boys lay awake that night, either from insomnia, or from thinking aimlessly about one subject or another. So when they woke, not one wore a happy face.

On weekends, the boys were ordered to wake up at nine, or chances of eating at all were slim to none. So almost a little earlier before the cut off time, they all sauntered along the tiled floors to a long wooden table with about twenty seats. At nine, if they had plates and silverware, the Headmistress would distribute the processed food of the morning.

"I'm convinced it's only this town that's late on spring time." Flynn said groggily, walking to the breakfast table with a comforter covering his body.

Aladdin, walking behind Flynn, stepped on tail of the comforter that dragged on the floor. The blanket fell to the floor and Flynn shivered. Aladdin threw the comforter over himself.

"Somebody came home late last night." Aladdin walked past him, raising his eyebrows inquiringly. Flynn responded by snatching the blanket off Aladdin's back.

"How'd things go?" Aladdin asked.

"Amazing. We played Xbox for six hours. But then I was shoved in a closet."

"What? Why?!" he laughed.

Flynn began to remember the moment.

_Both of their eyes had been red from staring at the screen; Grand Theft Auto was too awesome for the real world to be observed. But Flynn allowed his eyes to wander to the right of him, just a little bit where Rapunzel sat. She did the same, only when Flynn wasn't looking._

_Just a she had successfully stole a motorcycle, the sound of a distant car engine was heard._

_In one movement, Rapunzel dropped her controller and jumped to unplug the console._

_"Wha-why-?" Flynn asked, blinking multiple times._

_She snatched his controller and threw it into a drawer that opened underneath the TV._

_"Get up get up get up," her voice rose an octave at each 'up'._

_Flynn was dragged off the couch, and was pushed from back. They sprinted up the stairs to Rapunzel's room as they heard the front door being opened._

_Just as Flynn was catching his breath, his body jolted and he found he was being lead into a purple and gold wardrobe._

_"Wait, wait-"_

_The doors shut. He heard Rapunzel run to her bed._

_Two minutes later, he heard a new voice._

_"Rapunzel, what are you doing up so late?"_

_Flynn held his breath, dresses draped over his shoulders._

_"Oh, nothing, just studying for my organic chemistry test. Just wanted to be extra prepared!" he could hear Rapunzel reply cheerfully._

_"Mmm. Just remember to get your beauty sleep, my flower."_

_"Yes mother."_

_Flynn heard the door shut. He flinched at the light when Rapunzel open the closet doors._

_"Ok, you need to get out of here."_

_He stared at her bright green eyes, oblivious to the panic she obviously displayed._

_"Can't I just spend the night?" he smiled devilishly._

_"Oh, ha ha." she rolled her eyes, and pulled him out as silently as she could, "my mother would literally kill me if that happened. There's a scaffolding on the other side of the tower. Go down that way and you probably won't get caught."_

_"Probably?"_

_"Yes," she let out a breath, "my mother is a light sleeper on some days, really heavy on others. So go."_

_"Alright blondie," Flynn smiled and cupped her face with his hand. She tried to hide the rosebush spreading over her face. She put her hand against his._

_"Bye Eugene. I'll see you tomorrow." she winked. _

_So Flynn climbed down the tower, and rode to the orphanage on his bike without anything from stopping him._

"Why?" Flynn said in response to Aladdin, "because I'm assuming her mother is crazy ass bitch."

Aladdin nodded.

"Understandable."

The two sat down at the table, conversing about Flynn's night and other topics, until all the seats were filled. It was only then did they realize their red-headed friend was missing.

* * *

><p>Peter Pan wasn't one to skip breakfast, but the trip to Wendy's school was not going to be short. He know that he said they would hang out after school, but what if he never saw her again? If he wanted to spend a day with her, he might as well make the most of it.<p>

He walked on the sidewalk to Neverland Avenue, observing the frost on the dead grass and the dead trees and the dead air. He couldn't help but to think the town was physically incapable of even getting the seasons right. He rolled his eyes, and crossed the street towards a bus stop.

Out of the entire street, there was a single man. The skies were gray around him, his head ducked low and a top hat hiding his face. He was tall, nearly as tall as the bus sign. He stood leaning against it with one arm, holding another object Peter couldn't decipher. As he got closer, Peter realized the man was black, and wore a strange old timey suit.

And the man held a scepter.

_What the hell..._

There were plenty of characters in Peter's neighborhood. So he was fairly used to communicating with them. As he approached the bus stop, he gave a small nod. The man lifted his eyes under the top hat to acknowledge the teenager, then stared off in the distance. Peter and the man sat in silence for about five seconds before there was a gasp.

Peter felt the man's brown hands grab his shirt and lift him off the ground.

"You," the man growled, revealing a split between his teeth.

"Let go of me you bastard!" Peter tried to throw his body away from him, but his limbs were stone and his muscles lost their feeling. He felt his heart rush with dread in his ears.

"Where is the he?"

"What the fuck? Who are you talking about?" Peter felt his voice slip, and his cheeks flushed red that he had shown panic.

The man's grip tightened, "the djinn boy! Don't act like you don't know. The cards never lie!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" he shouted in the man's face, but twitched backwards with revulsion when he saw the man's eyes

"Your eyes..."

The roar of a bus sounded. Red brake lights lit the scene.

Peter dropped to the ground. The man stood over him like a tower.

"Yes... they turn that color when I use powers I rather save for later."

At the screech of the opening bus doors, the man had vanished. Peter still lay on the ground,shocked.

"Where you going honey?" a little old lady all dressed in white looked at Peter inquiringly from inside the bus. He slowly stood up.

"Can you take me to Walt Disney High?"

"Sure sweety, hop right in. No Shadowman can get you in here."

Peter nodded blankly and sat down in the back of the bus, haunted by the image of the rage in the man's violet eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys, I finally finished this chapter, with many earlier revisions. Frankly, the amount of crap I deleted from the chapter was astonishing. As for the super long wait, I went through another moving period in mah life, and it's really strange getting used to another place where you have no friends and aren't familiar with it's customs. Happy late Halloween guys! I love you!<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

After an hour, the metal monster of a machine screeched to a grinding halt. Peter Pan moved his eyes to the foggy window and sighed with relief. There was the front lawn of Wendy's high school, perfectly trimmed and perfectly green and perfectly scattered with teens, all lounging on the grass. He forced himself to move his legs, with were still heavy.

As he moved down the bus aisle, he saw the little old lady motioning for him to come closer.

"I already paid you lady." Peter said crossly as he reached her seat.

She reached for a newspaper that was sitting on the dashboard and hit Peter's head.

"OW! What the heck was that for?" he rubbed his head.

"Don't talk to your elders that way," she said, "you ain't never gonna get a family than," she put the newspaper on her lap, and groped around for Peter's hands.

"I don't want a family." Peter said, moving around to avoid her wrinkly grip. "what are you doing?!"

"Stand still boy, I need to give ya something."

"You could have said that." Peter stood still and held out his hands.

She reached out and gripped his right hand, warmth radiating from her wrinkled palms. Peter felt something metal and sharp in the center of his hand. He turned it over to examine the object.

It was a dull gold, and with two strangely shaped appendages one one side. It resembled half of an insect. Peter looked at it, and struggled to hold in his sarcasm.

"What is this? Half of a beetle?"

"A scarab if you wanna be specific."

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight."

"Find the other half and you'll get what ya wish for. Goodbye baby!" she shooed Peter away. As he was stepping down the stairs, he heard her giggling.

"Ooo hoo,I can't wait till that Blue Fairy sees this Diamond In The Rough. Ima win that bet with my eyes closed!"

_Diamond in the rough?_ Peter glanced warily behind his shoulder. _Blue Fairy? Is everyone required to be mysterious today?!_ He rolled his eyes and stepped off the bus. He brushed himself off and took a deep breath. The bus door closed behind him

"Crazy woman." He muttered, walking towards the school. He was scrutinizing the beetle again when he remembered something she had said.

_You ain't never gonna get a family that way._

Peter felt chills.

How did she know that he was an orphan?

He looked back at the bus, which was already taking off, and ran as fast as he could to the school.

* * *

><p>Upon reaching the entrance, Peter quickly formulated a plan. He felt a surge of giddiness at the thought of it. No one was here to hold him back. He rubbed his palms together.<p>

The outside of the school was scattered with less people than Peter would have liked, which was understandable since it was cold enough to theoretically freeze shit. He walked towards a girl and a boy who were both sitting on a short stone wall. The boy was large and stockily built. He looked strange when he was hunched over to the side, doing something in concentration. The girl was a redhead just like Peter, but had big blue eyes and a splash of freckles. She held her hand towards the boy, giggling like a maniac. Upon inspection, he realized the boy was painting the girl's nails.

Peter Pan was a second away from laughing out loud. He was clueless about girls and love, but he knew what the friendzone looked like, and this guy was buried deep, deep, inside it.

"Hi," he stifled a smile, "Do you guys know Wendy Darling?"

They both looked up at him, and Peter gasped with recognition at the boy. He couldn't believe his luck.

"Dude!" he said, not remembering the guy's name, "Is that you? Oh ho, mannn." Peter shook his head with pity.

The guy's face was red and pissed. He was a big and stocky, but with a dopey brown eyes and an innocent face. Blond hair drooped over his eyes.

The girl cocked her head towards Peter Pan, trying to check him out without him noticing. He didn't. "You know this guy, Kristoff?" she asked inquiringly, her eyebrows raised and a smile escaping a serious expression.

"Yeah. Peter Pan lives in the orphanage I go in and out of." he grumbled.

"But you're showing up a lot more than you used to." Peter noted. He didn't say so, but Peter knew that pretty soon Kristoff would be a member of the dysfunctional orphanage family for good. It always happened.

"Yeah, well..." Kristoff trailed off.

The redhead noted Kristoff's discomfort and interrupted, "Um, I don't think Wendy has this lunch period. I think, I THINK, she might probably maybe be in Mr. Vega's room. We can go check. Why do need to find her? Is she your girlfriend?" she covered her mouth, "I didn't mean to say that."

"That's ok. She isn't" Peter Pan rubbed his neck sheepishly at the thought, "Anyways, I need a favor Kristoff." A devilish smile spread across his face.

"I barely know you." he retorted crossly, "And your cronies pantsed me the first day I got to the orphanage." He reddened when the girl laughed, "Don't laugh! I was wearing my superman boxers."

Peter made a shocked face, even though he was quite aware of the incident. He was the one, in fact, who made pantsing the newcomers a tradition."I am so sorry. When I get home I shall have them flogged. I had no idea they would do something like that to someone, especially a newcomer like yourself. Please forgive them. They weren't under my supervision. Next time you come, they'll be at your service and do all your chores. Also, you'll have radio privileges. And as a bonus, I'll give ya 5 cups of chocolate pudding, just for you."

Kristoff shifted positions, considering the offer. Chocolate pudding after all, was almost like a form of currency in the orphanage. Even Kristoff knew that. "What's your favor?" He finally said.

All signs of gentility vanished from Peter's face.

"I'm going to need your uniform, and your hat."

* * *

><p>The Walt Disney High uniform was preppy to the point where it could have been designed by anime writers. Both the girls and the boys had to wear a light blue blazer that came with a god awful striped tie. The girls had to wear blue and white plaid skirts a few inches above the knee with knee length white socks, and the boys had to wear either khaki or navy pants. To Anna, the uniform made Kristoff look like a slightly gay bear. But she never said a word, since there was nothing he could do. Poor Kristoff.<p>

When Peter Pan emerged from the bathroom wearing Kristoff's uniform, Anna threw her head back and laughed.

The arm sleeves of the blazer were so long that it sloped over his shoulders, making the sleeves cover his hands, both of which were holding up the pants. When he hobbled towards Ana, who was still laughing, he stepped on the pant legs.

"You boyfriend's like the size of a yeti."

"Yeah, he is." She wiped a tear from her eye before realizing what Peter had said. "Wait, he's not my boyfriend."

Peter ignored her, "I'll be back in five minutes dude." He called into the bathroom, where Kristoff was waiting in a stall, striped down in his underwear.

"If you take any longer it'll be ten cups!" he called back bitterly.

"Bye Kristoff!" Peter saluted, the arm sleeve whipping his face. He turned towards Anna. "Let's get going."

* * *

><p>Wendy stared emptily at the teacher as she slouched over her desk, struggling to keep her head up. She felt herself slowly drift in and out of attention, a slight bit of drool straying from the side of her mouth. She blinked slowly as the World History teacher switched slides on the presentation. The only thing that was remotely interesting about the lesson the red laser dot thingy he was using, which was very pathetic. Wendy inwardly groaned<p>

_If this could be any more boring, I'd certainly be dead by now._

Just as Wendy was starting to see the light, the door opened.

"Hello? Is Wendy Darling in here?"

A strange mixture of disbelief and relief flooded through Wendy.

Peter Pan had saved the day once again.


	19. Chapter 19

It was eight at night. Flynn was bored.

"Peter still isn't here. I wondered if he died." The teenager mused, looking thoughtfully at a pee-stain on the wall near where the TV used to be. One of the Lost Boys dared/forced Milo to pee on the electrical socket to see if it had actually shocked him. It did. And it did where it hurt most.

Aladdin looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow. "You sound concerned." He said sarcastically, popping a potato chip in his mouth.

"I do?" Flynn asked. "That's reallllllllllly weird. Because I don't give two shits about where he is. I just want to get outta here."

"Me too." Aladdin sighed, his black hair covering his eyes.

Flynn stood over him. "Here's a suggestion: let's get the hell outta here!" He cried, smacking him upside the head. "Call one of your girlfriends, see if they can give us a ride to a club or something. Wonderland, even. I heard they don't ID."

Inwardly, Aladdin groaned. Whenever Peter wasn't with them, Flynn would always want to go out and get trashed. Aladdin couldn't stand it. There was something about alcohol that furthered him away from himself (and yes, Aladdin knew how stupid that sounded. It went better in his head). That, and Aladdin was so broke that he had to pay for bus rides around town with the same bus ticket for the last few months. Instead of the appropriate response, that being flicking Flynn off and going to bed, he sighed and nodded.

"I guess I could call Ariel."

Ariel was a complicated girl. Woman. Girl-woman. Whatever she was, she was a complicated one. The boys didn't know quite what to make of her. She had a knack of learning things quickly, for example learning how to drive by age 14 and mastering the art of sneaking out, but had the street smarts of a four year old. Flynn once had to stop her from calling a number written on gas station bathroom stall that read: _Call me if you want to have a wild time! _The boys (Aladdin and Flynn) had an unwritten pact to take care of her whenever she went out with them. The speed that she committed terrible decisions was frightening in public places.

Aladdin and Flynn stood in the front yard, waiting for her to pull up. Flynn shivered in his coat.

"Aladdin, when I grow old and rich I'm going to have this place burned down by my hitman." He said, his teeth chattering. "Maybe the this town will finally experience the summer we always dreamed of."

Aladdin laughed, his breath visible in the night. "Well not if I beat you to it."

Flynn paused, staring at his friend, then outright laughed out loud. "The only way you'll ever be rich and famous is if you settle down with a sugar mama. Which is my plan B, if I I don't become rich and famous all on my own. Speaking of rich and famous, how long did it take you to convince Ariel to come pick us up?"

"Ok first of all, those have nothing to do with each other. Second of all, about fifteen minutes. I just listened to her tell me about her day." Aladdin smiled and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm the charmer, and you're the…" He paused, trying to analyze Flynn without much success. "Fuck up." He grinned and tensed when Flynn punched him in his arm.

Before the two went into an all out brawl, a loud _honk!_ startled both of them. They turned around, to see Ariel Delmare poking her head out of a green GM Spark with swim stickers all of the bumper. "Come on guppies! We're going ouuuutt! Wooooo!" She fist pumped, part of her fire engine red hair splaying out of the car.

The boys hurried to the car,dutilly cheering and hoo-hawing. And within minutes, a car full of underage drivers were on their way to a club.

* * *

><p>So what were Peter Pan and lovely Wendy Darling doing for all those hours? Well, to name a few things… stealing little kids kites, playing hide and seek in Waltmart, racing on the sidewalks (Peter always won), joining a junior varsity soccer game, and finally at the moment Flynn and Aladdin left for Wonderland, Wendy and Peter Pan collapsed in the cold grass of a nearby park.<p>

The two were laying on their backs, their chests rising and falling, staring up at the blank night sky, void of stars. Wendy turned her head to Peter, and felt warm, despite the 34 degree weather.

_He's so beautiful._ She thought, absorbing his image in her mind. In the white sreet light, Peter's pointed chin rose like a mountain, but it was curved at the top, like a boy's. He had wonderful cheekbones, and eyes that darted back and forth, and feet that couldn't stop moving.

"Peter, today has been wonderful." She said, a dreamy tone to her voice that went unheard to Peter Pan.

Peter agreed, and his eyes flicked towards her. "It sure has. I don't think I've had this fun fun since Tink-" He stopped himself, and looked away.

"What?" Wendy turned on her side to face him. "Tink? Who's Tink?"

"My old friend."

"Ah." Wendy paused, waiting for him to give more information. He didn't. "A..girlfriend?"

He furrowed his brow, and his thin lips turned into a grimace. "You know I really don't want to talk about her, ok?" Peter spat. Wendy blinked, hurt.

"I'm sorry. I just-"

"I know, you were just asking. But you don't know what's it's like. I don't even know where she is anymore. I mean… she meant more to me than anything in this whole world."

Wendy had never heard him talk like that about anyone she had ever met. "More than anything?" She asked bitterly.

All Peter could do was nod. "More than anything." He repeated. "But she did something horrible to herself."

The pause between them was long, and heavy. Peter Pan finally spoke.

"Things just get really hard when you love someone who doesn't love themselves."

* * *

><p><strong>More tomorrow. :)<strong>


	20. Chapter 20

"No, no, she really doesn't want her car washed." Flynn interrupted before Ariel could answer the homeless man herself.

Because it was the the second to last day of spring break, the club was packed; Ariel had to park on a completely different street, one affectionately nicknamed Hell , Ariel had asked why it was called that. Flynn and Aladdin had looked at each other.

"Because it's the street that gets the hotter than Hell in the summers." Flynn said, smiling. Aladdin had nodded and had given her a thumbs up, but secretly face palmed. It was really called that because of the amount of homicide victims police find there on a monthly basis. But that's besides the fact, because the homeless man had the longest beard the gang had ever seen, and on a scale of importance, guys with long beards beat homicide victims by at least four points.

Techno music blasted from far away, the bass vibrating the car. "Yeah, we don't have any money to give."

But the old man still didn't back down, pointing insistingly at the car.

Flynn looked disturbed. "I mean you can, but what would you clean it with?" Aladdin nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. The man didn't have any sponges or buckets. Or water. Or soap. They both shuddered, imagining the guy cleaning the windows with nothing but his spit and his beard.

Ariel just shrugged and handed the man a five dollar bill. "You can clean it if you really want to. Bye bye!" She waved and walked down the street, locking the car. Flynn and Aladdin enjoyed the view Ariel gave from behind for a second, then took off running after her when the homeless man cat-called her, both of the boys locking arms with her to ward off any more future creepers.

* * *

><p>Peter closed his eyes. The grass itched the back of his neck, and the symphony of night traffic passing was too close for his taste. There were no stars. That sucked. Also Wendy had her hair up. That was weird, he had always seen it down when she was a kid.<p>

He was trying to focus on anything but Tink. The numbness he mastered to kill the pain lasted a year. But now, memories flared up, red and fiery spots of activity.

Last year's Christmas was when it started.

Nobody knew exactly what had happened to Tink's parent's except Peter Pan, though Flynn and Aladdin had a general idea. Her dad left a long time ago when Tink was five, but her mom stuck around. But around Christmas last year was when it happened.

It all started with Tinkerbell's famous words:

"_I'm not getting you guys anything this year,"_

_Aladdin, Flynn, Peter Pan and Tink were all outside a salvation army store, people watching. It was one of their all time favorite activities; they could stare at people for hours and hours without saying a word to each other, simply making assumptions about the people that would stroll by. The Salvation Army store was the best place to do it, especially in the bitter cold. All the poor and homeless people needed some kind of warmth or insulation, so the Salvation Army was always a safe haven to them. So the four pre-teens sat on a concrete wall a small distance from the store, in the freezing cold, at night, watching the people walk in and walk out. _

"_What do you mean, you're not getting us anything this year?" Flynn stared at Tink, his thick eyebrows converging under his blue beanie. _

"_What do you mean what do I mean? I'm not getting you guys anything this year. Fucking deal with it," she turned away, her breath visible in the light of the street lamps. _

"_I thought it was your News Years resolution not to curse." Aladdin said, smiling._

"_Ima wash your mouth out with soap if you continue to curse that way young lady," Peter mocked her. _

"_It's not New Years yet, I can curse as much as I want," she paused. "dumbasses." Peter Pan grabbed her head, and shoved his jacket sleeve in her mouth. _

"_Young lady!" he said, Tink struggling to get his sleeve out of her mouth, "I told you not to curse!" he laughed as she finally escaped, punching his arm multiple times. _

"_God! That's not even soap!" she wiped her mouth, "and who knows where that's been!" _

"_It's probably got some of his spit, traces of food, weeks of dirt and worse," Aladdin raised his eyebrows, "if you know what I mean," _

_Tink groaned at the thought, and Aladdin and Peter Pan laughed._

"_But wait, why aren't you getting anything for us this year?" Flynn persisted while the laughter continued._

_Tink sighed as a distant look crept into her eyes. _

"_Look, it's a rough year, alright? Let's just leave it at that," _

_Peter Pan looked at her, "not to be an asshole, but you make our presents,"_

"_Which isn't a bad thing!" Aladdin said quickly, noticing the indignant look on Tinkerbell's face, "your presents are the best. They're the thing we look forward to every Christmas," _

"_Which is why you should bring them back," Flynn said, "we'll ask Tiana's dad to make an extra batch of sugar cookies this year for you." _

"_As much as I love sugar cookies, I can't do it." she blew a strand of blond hair from her face, "and honestly, we're starting to get way too old for Christmas anyways."_

_With that, she propelled herself off of the wall, falling about seven feet and landed perfectly on her feet._

"_Faith trust and pixie dust!" she called their famous greeting/goodbye catch phase to them. She ran off, her long green skirt flowing in the freezing wind. _

Peter really didn't know how well she was good at hiding it. Maybe she didn't know the severity of her situation at the time.

That the government was going to take her away from her mother.

* * *

><p>It turned out, Wonderland did ID. And they sure as hell did not let Ariel, Flynn and Aladdin in.<p>

Defeated, they sat on the sidewalk, the cold wind biting their cheeks. Ariel shivered, she was wearing a light purple cardigan and a green tank top with blue jeans, thinking they would be inside somewhere. But nooo, nothing had to be the way it was supposed to be when the orphans were involved.

While Flynn cursed the freezing weather, Aladdin stood up. "We gotta keep our blood pumping guys, or we'll end up getting frostbitten" He yelled, the music beating in their ears. With that, he leaped on a table that was outside Wonderland, and started dancing to the raunchy hip hop music. Ariel whooped and hopped on with him, dragging Flynn with her.

And they made the most out of it by dancing terribly, laughing until their sides hurt while Peter Pan was on the other side of town, starting to forget what happiness and laughter meant.

* * *

><p>"Tink's mom, Emily, was a meth addict. But she stopped after she was arrested in her teens. At least Tink thought she did." Peter allowed himself to say to Wendy, closing his eyes. "On Christmas Emily's parole officer came by after years and-" Peter swallowed. "Her mom was using it again. They arrested her. Again. And Tink was put through the foster care system. We only saw each other once a month. After each month she looked worse and worse."<p>

"Tink was smarter than all of us combined. She could make anything, she used to work at mechanic shops. When she lived here she basically lived at Silver's Mechanic. She stopped all of that." Peter's lip trembled. For some reason, when she stopped fiddling with car parts and making tin can robots, that was the stab that almost did it. Peter Pan almost lost his sanity.

"She said some terrible things to me." He whispered after a long pause. Wendy couldn't look away.

"After we got in a fight, she overdosed on crack cocaine in her foster parent's house."

A gasp escaped Wendy's lips, and Peter turned to face her.

"She made it." He whispered. "But I never saw her again."


	21. Chapter 21

'I'm going to ask you get off the table."

The scary deep voice made Flynn, Ariel and Aladdin turn around, and induced a small scream from Ariel, but Flynn just stood still, and seemed to think about it.

"Nah, fuck you."

And Flynn/Eugene continued to dance like the world was ending, and everyone else followed.

If the 'fuck you' from a teenager with a bad 5 o'clock shadow had any effect on the bouncer, he didn't show it. "Get off the table." He deadpanned.

"We just want to dance man!" Aladdin yelled, pop-locking and dropping it. He swayed his head back and forth, and caught sight of something gold and pointy in the bouncer's pocket. With a new, mischievous light in his eyes, a smile floated on his face. For reasons Aladdin didn't know, he wanted that gold thing in the bouncer's pocket. And he wanted it right that second. "Maybe if we danced with you would understand." Aladdin sniffed, stepping down to the bench-like chairs that were attached to the table. He stuck out his hand to the bouncer. Flynn and Ariel stopped, and stared at the spectacle.

"Come on. Do you trust me?" Aladdin asked, his eyes scanning every part of the bouncer's appearance. Well for one thing, the guy was stoic as hell, and was gigantic. In height, and in muscle. He was also black, and had a shaved head. There were a few things that were weird; the bouncer was wearing sunglasses at night, and had the word COBRA tattooed across his right knuckles. Seemed like a nice guy.

The bouncer wrinkled his nose, and before he could say anything, Aladdin stepped down to face Mr. Cobra. Much to Flynn's utter dismay, Aladdin reached for the bouncer's right hand. "Cobra huh? Is that a family name?" Just like Aladdin wanted, the bouncer flinched away turning to the left, revealing the gold pointy thing in his pocket. ALaddin took that moment to 'accidently' trip into him.

His hands moved like they had their own minds, and the gold thing was in his hands.

"Touch me again." Mr. Cobra growled, cracking his knuckles. The large, rhino of a man charged at Aladdin and the rest of the gang on the table. Aladdin dodged him and ran like hell down the street, laughing. Flynn and Ariel took no time standing around either.

"SCATTER!" Ariel screamed, jumping off the table and sprinting into night,

Flynn followed her, nearly getting his ankle grabbed by Mr. Cobra. "Scatter? Really Ariel? Where'd you get that one, The Outsiders?" He panted, soon side by side with the red-headed swimmer.

"THE OUTSIDERS WAS AWESOME FLYNN. YOU SHOULD REALLY READ IT SOMETIME."

"I'VE NEVER HAD SOMEONE SCREAM A BOOK RECOMMENDATION TO ME." Flynn yelled, pumping his arms and running around a sleeping hobo.

Ariel didn't answer him, she was already a little winded. There was a damn reason swimmers were swimmers in the first place. They can't run. At all. "My car!" She cried, the green GM Spark coming into view on the other side of the street. It was right where she left it, and it was very shiney. Those homeless guys actually did clean it.

Aladdin was already waiting there, tapping the the roof impatiently. "Come guys! Hurry up!"

Ariel struggled to get her keys of her purse, and Flynn raced across the street. With two beeps and a flicker of lights, the boys ripped open the car doors and dived in. Ariel poppied in the drivers seat, and drove, drove, drove until Wonderland was out of sight.

The gold thing in Aladdin's pocket was beginning to feel heavy, and the teenager ached to see what it was. While Ariel and Flynn were in deep conversation, he pulled it out of his pocket.

_Huh. _

It looked like half of a 24 carat beetle.

Or a scarab if you want to be specific.


End file.
